The Roles of a School Counselor
Original Created by Dawne Gibson
Revised and Adapted by Trish Curcuru
What does a school counselor
do?
Maybe you would like to be a school counselor. Or
maybe you are just curious about the roles a
counselor plays in your school. This slide show
should give you a good understanding.
Curcuru, T.
What are the many roles of a counselor?
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Consultant
Teacher
Personal Counselor
Crisis Counselor
Peer Facilitator
Group Counselor
School Test Coordinator
Career Counselor
Chairperson for the Intervention & Referral Services Team – Grades 3-5 and Bilingual K-5
Anti-Bullying Specialist
Advisor
Program Manager
Researcher
Public Relations Consultant
Heroes Mentorship Program Coordinator
Program Evaluator
Child Study Team Liaison
Lunchroom Supervisor & Parents’ Parking Lot Supervisor
School Safety Team Chairperson & PBIS Committee Member
504/ADA Plan Coordinator/Writer
Revised by T. Curcuru from D. Gibson’s original slide.
Consultant
We serve as student advocates by
consulting with students, parents,
teachers, and others regarding
strategies to help students and
their families.
Gibson, D.
Teacher
We have a set curriculum, just as
teachers do, that is mandated by
the state. We teach from these
standards to all classes during our
Classroom Guided Instruction.
Gibson, D.
Personal Counselor
We serve as mentors, role models, and a
confidante to students and faculty
members who need someone to share
their burdens with during various times
of their lives.
Gibson, D.
Crisis Counselor
We serve students and the faculty with critical issues
that may arise unexpectedly, such as a death, fire,
tornado, etc….
http://www.fema.gov/kids/
The Center for the Prevention of School Violence
Gibson, D.
Peer Facilitator
Counselors can train students as
peer mediators, conflict managers,
tutors, and mentors.
http://www.peerprograms.org/
Gibson, D.
Group Counselor
A counselor will conduct group counseling
as needed on such topics as anger
management, bullying, friendship, feelings,
etc. The counselor will only conduct group
counseling with parental permission.
School Violence Prevention & School Safety Guide
Safe Communities ~ Safe Schools Bullying Prevention
Gibson, D.
Revised by T. Curcuru
School Test Coordinator
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Counselors serve as school test coordinators for the Department of
Education’s testing program for grades 3, 4, and 5. In this critical role,
counselors ensure that all aspects of testing are smooth from the early
stages of planning and staff training to the final stages of test
administration and make-ups. Our involvement in this year-long process
extends well beyond actual testing weeks. Counselors spend months
preparing and learning about the needs of the students and staff.
Counselors conscientiously study IEPs and 504 Plans to make certain
testing accommodations are met. After the school year ends, often in July,
counselors are still at work on testing during the records review process.
All student information must be accurate as this impacts state and federal
progress reports.
Once scores arrive in the fall, counselors also ensure individual score
reports are disseminated, filed and forwarded.
As parents and staff receive reports, the counselor serves as a resource for
interpretation of the data.
Curcuru, T.
Career Counselor
• Counselors help students investigate the
world of work as well as their personal
interests, develop job skills, apply for jobs,
write resumes, and seek employment.
Gibson, D.
I&RST Chairperson
• The school counselor serves as the chairperson for the I&RST for
grades 3, 4, and 5 and for bilingual grades K-5. In this role, she
meets twice a month with a team of professionals who develop
plans for students in need of an educational plan that includes
interventions and/or referrals.
• The school counselor prepares the agenda for the meetings and
maintains the end-of-the-year report.
Curcuru, T.
Anti-Bullying Specialist
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Counselors serve as the Anti-Bullying Specialist to prevent and assist with
the investigation of alleged incidents of harassment, intimidation and
bullying. In this role, counselors work closely with the administration and
staff to prevent incidents and to create and implement action plans to
remediate incidents once they occur .
Counselors receive training in HIB prevention every year and write reports
which are submitted several times a year to the district Anti-Bullying
Coordinator.
Curcuru. T.
Advisor
A counselor is an advisor to students as they
enroll in school, prepare to leave school,
and as they enter the work field. A
counselor may also serve as an advisor to
the community, seeking ways to better
their school and generate support for their
program.
Gibson, D.
Program Manager
A counselor must be organized and up-to
date on the latest curriculum and
standards given by the state and local
systems in order to develop a well
rounded program.
Gibson, D.
Researcher
Counselors must analyze their individual
school’s data results from testing. We also
must evaluate our program regularly and
make necessary changes. We must
research the latest data and update our
resources periodically.
Gibson, D.
Public Relations Consultant
In this role, the counselor helps others in
the school understand the counseling
program. The counselor may promote
the program through various activities
such as the creation of a website, blog,
or newsletter. She may also reach out to
the community and its resources to
benefit the school and/or students.
Gibson, D. & Curcuru, T.
Heroes Mentorship Program
Coordinator
• The counselor seeks to pair staff mentors,
“Big Heroes,” with students or “Little
Heroes.”
• The counselor oversees the program by
organizing, mentoring and encouraging as
well as celebrating the special bonds formed
between the Heroes.
Curcuru, T.
Program Evaluator
• Counselors continually assess the needs of
their students, evaluate their programs,
and make changes in the school
counseling program to better meet the
current, identified needs of students.
From Millville K-8 Guidance Curriculum, p. 4, January 2013.
Child Study Team Liaison
• The counselor keeps in contact with Child
Study members throughout the year and
at I&RST meetings to discuss and review
new referrals and the progress of current
classified students.
• The counselor meets with the Special
Services social worker weekly to discuss
the counseling needs of classified
students.
Lunchroom/Drill/Parking Lot
Supervisor
• The counselor supervises the lunchroom during
kindergarten/first grade lunch every day.
• The counselor supervises the parents’ parking
lot one week per month in the morning.
• The counselor supervises drills as requested and
needed by the principal and vice principal.
Curcuru, T.
School Safety Team Member
• Counselors serve on the School Safety Committee/and or serve as
chairperson.
• The counselor analyzes HIB data and trends and devises a plan with
the team to reduce incidents and to take proactive measures.
• The counselor works with the team to develop activities for Respect
Week in October.
• Counselors also serve as a member of the Positive Behavior
Intervention and Support Team. We support PBIS team efforts and
work with administration , staff, parents, and students to foster
positive behavior.
Curcuru, T.
ADA/504 Plan Writer
Counselors receive 504 training from the Director of Special Services and
must follow 504 Law to write plans for students who quality.
Prior to writing plans, counselors present 504 requests to the I&RST; and
if appropriate, schedule 504 eligibility determination meetings, and
organize paperwork/records. Counselors carefully assemble a multidisciplinary 504 Committee that includes the student’s teacher, parents,
administration, and other individuals who can provide expertise and
have enough knowledge and information to make a determination of
eligibility or non-eligibility.
Once a plan is in place, counselors and social workers make certain that
all teachers are aware of the 504 Plan and follow the accommodations.
Curcuru, T.
Now that you know what your
counselor does…..
What is important to your counselor?
Rieck’s counselor, Mrs. Curcuru, believes in being student
centered and solution focused. Students are central to her
work and she likes to help them to find solutions to their
problems. This gives Mrs. Curcuru much joy! Mrs.
Curcuru likes working with people and she has lots of
experience helping others.
Curcuru, T.
What else do you need to know?
School Counselors provide short–term
(brief) counseling in the school. School
counselors do not provide therapy for
children or families.
Curcuru, T.
What is the difference between counseling and
therapy?
Counseling:
 Addresses preventative and developmental concerns.
 Addresses conscious concerns related to school.
 Assists with educational, career, and decision-making
problems.
 Uses teaching methods.
 Makes referrals to parents for students with serious
problems to receive help from professionals with clinical
training.
Credit: The School Counselor’s Book of Lists by Dorothy J. Blum. P. 47
What is therapy?
 Addresses serious disorders and personality problems.
 Addresses unconscious concerns as well as conscious
concerns.
 Assists with personality reconstruction and other serious
problems.
 Uses healing methods.
 Provides ongoing therapy to students referred by school
counselor to parents.
Credit: The School Counselor’s Book of Lists by Dorothy J. Blum. P. 47
What is the counseling method
provided by your school counselor?
Your school counselor provides solution-focused brief counseling.
Method:
• Listen attentively to the students’ description of the problem.
• Refocus toward solution of the problem and reframe with success
terminology.
• Externalize the problem.
• Align with the student against the problem.
• Focus on the visible and the specific.
• Ask the student the “miracle question”: If the problem were solved
overnight, how would the student know it was solved?” “What would be
different?”
• Identify problem maintenance behaviors.
Credit: The School Counselor’s Book of Lists by Dorothy J. Blum. p. 46
Solution-Focused Brief Counseling (cont.)
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Identify exceptions, times when the student has the problem under control.
Encourage student to do the same thing(s) as he or she did during
exceptions.
Encourage adults in the school to see the student as competent and able to
control the problem.
Use a scale of 10 and ask the student to place control of the problem on that
scale.
Caution students to go slowly and focus on tasks that lead to success.
Notice time and place when examining successes.
Recognize student as expert and totally responsible for success.
Credit: The School Counselor’s Book of Lists by Dorothy J. Blum. p. 46
What does confidentiality mean to
your counselor?
Counselor MUST keep students’ personal
information and issues PERSONAL. We
are NOT allowed to share this
information unless one of the following
guidelines occur:
Gibson, D.
Reasons for breaking confidentiality…
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5.
They are in danger or they present a danger to
someone or themselves.
You are mandated by the courts.
They give you permission to discuss it with someone
else.
They are in violation of a school policy that requires
you to report it to a school administrator.
You feel it necessary to consult with someone more
experienced in the area of concern or need (with
student’s permission).
Gibson, D.
Credits and Acknowledgements
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A very special thanks to super guidance counselor Dawne Gibson of Englewood Elementary
School in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for sharing her original PowerPoint creation of “The Roles of a
Counselor.” Reaching across many miles to share ideas has been a joy!
With Dawn’s permission and kindness, Trish Curcuru, Rieck Avenue School’s guidance
counselor, was able to revise the PowerPoint and to add and tailor slides as needed. Trish is
very grateful to Dawn for her inspiration and collaboration!
Thanks you for taking the time to understand
the roles and responsibilities of a counselor.
Curcuru, T.